A World Worth Protecting

Chapter 845: A Mutual Exchange!

As Wang Baole retreated and Zi Luo approached him, a disdainful snort from the Planet realm cultivator sounded from the bronze lamp in He Yunzi’s hands.

The flames in the bronze lamp rose instantly. Through some unknown means, the Planet realm cultivator released his suppressive force from within the lamp and sent it surging outwards. His suppressive force enveloped the entire area, creating a seal that trapped Wang Baole inside!

The seal looked like a translucent dome from afar. It sat between the heavens and the earth, restricting Wang Baole’s mobility to an area that spanned a thousand feet!

The seal not only restricted the area in which Wang Baole could move, but it also created a barrier between him and the doors to the ancestral tombs!

Shock flickered across Wang Baole’s face. If someone could hear the voice inside his head at that moment, they would surely be deafened by his loud cursing.

That d*mned Xie Haiyang. Just you wait and see. You dog… The fact that he spread his bets across the betting pool like this means that he has already discovered that I’m practicing the Demonic Eye Art. He knew that I wouldn’t suffer from any forces of repulsion here. Whatever he said before was just an act. What a sly fox. He must also know how many Red Crystals I have left. He’s trying to find a way to make me beg him for help, then he’ll make me pay a hefty sum for his help!

Wang Baole finally realized exactly what was going on as he retreated. But he knew that this wasn’t the time to think about such matters. He didn’t plan to fall into Xie Haiyang’s trap and pay the merchant’s unreasonably exorbitant fees. He unleashed a sudden burst of speed as he forced the gears in his head into overdrive, dodging and evading Zi Luo’s attacks within the small space that only spanned a thousand feet.

Wang Baole had just guessed that the conniving merchant, Xie Haiyang, had sold him information at an exorbitant fee, fulfilled the wish of the Divine Eye civilization’s emperor, and carried out the request of the Violet Gold civilization at the same time. While he was trapped in a perilous situation, in a distant galaxy far away from the Divine Eye Star System, in a shop owned by the Xie family and located in a market, sat Xie Haiyang. He was listening to his staff report work matters when he suddenly sneezed.

“Someone’s cursing me!” Xie Haiyang coughed. He then raised his right hand and formed a hand seal, a look of revelation appearing on his face a few moments later.

“It must be that fatty, Wang Baole!”

“Young Master… you saw him do it. Why do you even try and pretend that you need to read your fortune to know that?” The man reading out his report to Xie Haiyang was an old man wearing traditional Chinese robes. He was clearly of significant status and rank. He was seated as well, and there was a teasing look in his eyes as he smiled and spoke.

Xie Haiyang blinked, then looked at the table before him. There was a jade slip lying on the table. Above the jade slip hovered an audiovisual projection…

The image projected was the current scene unfolding in the Divine Eye civilization’s imperial cemetery. They weren’t looking through the eyes of Wang Baole, but… through those of the old emperor!

The image looked extremely clear, and the audio came through equally clearly and without any distortion. The old man’s comment made Xie Haiyang feel slightly sheepish. It was true that he knew nothing about fortune-telling, but couldn’t he just pretend that he did, just for a moment?

The old man could feel Xie Haiyang’s embarrassment, and the smile on his face faded away. After a brief moment of contemplation, he asked, “Young Master, should we be helping Wang Baole?”

“The fatty might be stubborn, but everything is going to turn out fine. He may have tricks hidden up his sleeve that can help him break the seal, but he’ll have to pay a high price to do that. Very soon, he’ll be sending me a voice transmission to give me a good scolding. Then, he’ll hand over his money without any complaints and ask me for my help. He shouldn’t need my jade slip to open the doors to the ancestral tombs. The jade slip that I’ve given him isn’t meant for this. It’s for him to call for help. In addition, after he’s entered the tombs… I’ll have another chance to squeeze more money out of him. Without my help and with his current level of cultivation, he’s not going to find the life-changing opportunity that he’s looking for.” Xie Haiyang smiled confidently. He pulled out a voice transmission jade slip and placed it beside him.

“What we’re waiting for now is for him to ask me to help him break the Planet realm seal and escape!”

At that very moment, inside the Divine Eye civilization’s imperial cemetery, Wang Baole was in the middle of a desperate retreat. Countless ideas appeared in his head as he tried to think of a way to get himself out of his current predicament.

But… each solution would leave Wang Baole with some form of regret. He ached at the price he would have to pay. The use of either the Flame Patriarch’s cursed jade slip or the Planet realm palm that was resting inside him and being nourished by his Eternal Star Fire was too high a price to pay. It wasn’t worth it.

He could only use the cursed jade slip once. As for the Planet realm palm, it might survive being used a couple of times, but he had only started nurturing it. He was worried that the power unleashed from the palm wasn’t going to be powerful enough if he used it prematurely. He was going to end up paying a heavier price to achieve the damage he wanted.

This applied to him blowing up his Eternal Star Fire as well. That would be akin to blowing himself up along with his enemies. The injury he would receive if he chose that option would be greater.

That cursed Xie Haiyang is forcing me to ask him for help! The struggle that Wang Baole was feeling was reflected clearly in his eyes. With a single bound, he narrowly avoided another attack from Zi Luo. Zi Luo was growing increasingly impatient with his constant evasions. Despite his level of cultivation, and despite having shrunk the size of the battlefield, Wang Baole continued to evade his attacks repeatedly. The main cause for that was that they needed to capture him alive. Regardless, his continued failure was making him look like a fool in front of his superior.

“There’s no need to capture him alive. Kill him. We can still use his corpse as a sacrifice!” The Planet realm cultivator hidden inside the bronze lamp must have realized what was going on, so he immediately barked out his order in a cold, merciless voice.

“Yes, my lord!” A gruesome grin split Zi Luo’s face wide when he heard that. As he raised his right hand, black spirit energy rushed out from his body and gathered around his right hand, transforming into a crocodile’s skull in his palm. The skull expanded and enveloped Zi Luo, merging it and the cultivator into one!

Black spirit energy surrounded the rotting skull, which radiated death and decomposition. An indescribable sense of something evil emanated from the skull, whose appearance caused spatial distortions to suddenly appear in the confined, sealed space. A terrifying power erupted from the skull, and an alarming sense of danger exploded in Wang Baole’s head at the same time.

But… at that exact moment, as alarm bells began blaring in Wang Baole’s head, a strange light flickered in his eyes. He suddenly thought of what the Planet realm cultivator had said.

They want to use my corpse as a sacrifice? Corpse… sacrifice… Wang Baole’s eyes brightened, and a crazy idea popped into his head.

Let’s wing it. If this doesn’t work, I’ll just have to give that cursed dog Xie Haiyang his chance to earn big bucks!

Madness flashed in Wang Baole’s eyes at that thought. He howled and stopped running. Then, without summoning any defenses or protection, he charged at the approaching Zi Luo as if he were charging towards his own death.

Zi Luo froze momentarily at Wang Baole’s unexpected charge. Then, the murderous glow in his eyes intensified as he unleashed a burst of speed and rushed towards Wang Baole. He reappeared before Wang Baole almost instantly, grinning fiercely as his crocodile opened its maw and lunged at Wang Baole, ready to swallow him whole.

Wang Baole didn’t defend himself as the crocodile’s jaws swung towards him. He seemed adamant about dying together with his enemy. The old emperor stood outside the sealed space and watched the scene unfold before him. The expression on his face changed suddenly, and genuine fear appeared in his eyes for the first time.

A similar expression had appeared on the face of Xie Haiyang, who was observing everything through the old emperor’s eyes. He had been seated all this while, with a smug look on his face, before he suddenly rose to his feet.

“Oh no!”

A roar erupted from within Wang Baole’s body as soon as he said that out loud. The Demonic Eye Art began churning even though Wang Baole hadn’t activated it. An enormous eye materialized behind Wang Baole, and an old man’s face appeared inside the eye’s pupil.

The old man was the will that was hidden within the Demonic Eye Art!

The idea that Wang Baole had thought of had nothing to do with the fact that he was currently in the body of his avatar, which had been conjured via his essence technique. It had to do with what the Planet realm cultivator had said about corpses and sacrifices!

It had to do with the fact that… there was someone there who really wanted him alive. That someone was the old emperor, and… the will that was resting inside his body, the will that belonged to the patriarch of the Divine Eye civilization!

Wang Baole knew exactly what the patriarch wanted. He knew very well that even though the old wretch wanted him weakened and injured, he didn’t want him caught, and he most definitely didn’t want Wang Baole to die there.

That’s why… I can still make use of Xie Haiyang’s seemingly intelligent move of placing multiple bets in this fight and free myself from this current predicament, and I’m going to do it my way!

The high officials’ autobiographies mentioned this before. Never underestimate anyone. Xie Haiyang… you made the terrible mistake… of underestimating me!

Those thoughts were racing through Wang Baole’s head as the enormous eye hovered behind him. Reflected in the eye was the old man’s resentful look. He hadn’t intended to interfere in the fight, but he had no choice but to do so. Forced into a corner, he shouted two words!

“Divine! Eye!”

Zi Luo shuddered violently when he heard those two words. Countless eyes appeared on the crocodile that he had summoned. They exploded as soon as they appeared, forcing a scream of pain from Zi Luo’s lips. He seemed to be trapped in an illusion and could no longer sense where Wang Baole was. Instead, he charged in another direction.

Outside the sealed space, the old emperor’s eyes had turned red. He leaped into the air, his eyes bright with madness as he roared, “Divine! Eye!”

Countless eyes appeared all over his body. They blew up, ripping his body apart. His blood transformed into an enormous blood-red eye that rammed straight into the seal, causing a thunderous boom to erupt in the air. No one knew what the old emperor did, but he had somehow tainted the seal that had been formed from a Planet realm cultivator’s Divine Sense. The seal shuddered violently as the old emperor faded away, and a crack appeared in its wall.

Wang Baole’s eyes flashed as the crack appeared. He made full use of the window of opportunity, retreating hastily and dashing straight for the crack. Just as he stepped through the crack, he threw a glance at the vanishing puddle of blood and flesh, condescension flickering in his eyes!

Wang Baole…

Somewhere in the market, Xie Haiyang had risen to his feet. He could see the mockery in Wang Baole’s eyes through the audiovisual projection hovering in front of him. Xie Haiyang’s breathing quickened, and he was silent for a long time before he finally sat back down again.

You’re really something!